Craven

GENRE

Craven is a feature length cultural drama in the vein of Witness (Peter Weir – 1985).

SETTING

The story is set in a rural community not far from the city.

It is fall and the landscape is bare.

Organized crime and violence dominate the air waves, citizens wring their hands and wonder why this is happening.

It is a multicultural place with the look of diversity but underneath, all is not well and consumer culture runs the show.

THE STORY

Alex Petrov, once a Russian hockey prodigy, left his family as a young man to come to Canada to live his dream. Now, 20 years later, he is just another immigrant, popping pills and pimping his glory days as he tries to sell people security systems. He shares a house with his two teenage kids who live in their own world and they all try to forget the woman that was once there.

Then, one night, in a bar parking lot, Alex witnesses a brutal beating of a native man. While he tries to avoid being involved, a young female police detective finally tracks him down and forces him to testify against a powerful gang leader. While Alex is assured of police protection, he soon finds out that he and his family are in danger and quietly, one night, he removes his family from their home and they take refuge on a local Native Reserve with a Native woman, Rita, whom he has met and come to like.

While the gang leader and the RCMP each try to find him first, Alex discovers that the beaten man’s wife and son have a strange attraction to him, one that leaves both he and Rita struggling with their sense of justice and responsibility.

Status: In Development

My thanks to the Leqa:mel First Nations for their help and reassurance on this project.